In November 2011, Paul Frampton, a theoretical particle physicist, met a Czech bikini model on an online dating site. This encounter was to take him on an adventure through South America, where he was asked to deliver a package for her. Read about the suitcase full of trouble.

The Pentagon’s warnings about the threats it faces are falling on deaf ears. Geoff Dyer explains why “if the military is to fend off much bigger cuts to its budget in the coming years, it will need to present a more convincing story about the threats that America faces, one that focuses on specific challenges rather than a blanket sense of fear and trepidation.”

Chinese parents constantly bemoan the laziness of their children and the young people have had enough. James Palmer looks at the growing divide between the old and young in China: “It’s not just a generation gap. It’s a values gap, a wealth gap, an education gap, a relationships gap, an information gap.”

Two weeks ago a masked assailant threw acid in the face of the Bolshoi’s artistic director Sergei Filin. The attack has cast a shadow over the reputation of one of the world’s most celebrated ballet troupes, as Courtney Weaver explains in her fascinating report on the tensions and rivalries that have emerged at the Moscow ballet in recent months.

What’s it like to dance at the Bolshoi? Here are four videos, and four dancers (well, three dancers and one choreographer, to be precise) who made their mark there over the years. For the sake of brevity, we limited ourselves to four, so they can only gesture at the Bolshoi’s long and varied history; please share your thoughts – and recommendations – in the comments.

1) Galina Sergeyevna Ulánova In this video from the Bolshoi’s official youtube channel, you can watch one of its most famous ballerinas – and one of the 20th century’s most acclaimed – fluttering across the stage, pressing down her net skirts, and talking about her favourite role (Giselle). Joseph Stalin himself is said to have ordered the transfer of Ulánova to the Bolshoi from its rival, the Mariinsky Theatre in Leningrad, in 1944 (“Although Leningrad was where the revolution started, Stalin never cared for it. He saw it as a rebellious city,” The Economist notes in its obituary of Ulánova). Read more

The World

with Gideon Rachman

Gideon became chief foreign affairs columnist for the Financial Times in July 2006. He joined the FT after a 15-year career at The Economist, which included spells as a foreign correspondent in Brussels, Washington and Bangkok. He also edited The Economist’s business and Asia sections.

His particular interests include American foreign policy, the European Union and globalisation